GT Advance Championship Racing

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Find out how it's possible to nearly ruin one of the best racing games on the Game Boy Advance.

By Craig Harris

When the Game Boy Advance was launched in Japan back in May, MTO's racing game Advanced GTA was a real surprise -- what we got was a real-world licensed racing game with crisp visuals, tight control, and a extremely challenging Championship Mode. We commended THQ for picking up the title for a stateside release -- as-is, it would end up being the Game Boy Advance equivalent of Sony's own Gran Turismo.

But something has gone horribly awry. In what can only be perceived as a cost-cutting move, THQ had MTO pull the battery RAM out of the game in favor of a password system for GT Advance. Though this could sound like a nit-picking critique, this move actually seriously hurts the enjoyment of the game. The gameplay remains completely intact, but since the game focuses on car collection and record keeping, the password system is a serious hassle -- it's still a great racer, but some players (myself included) just might throw their hands up in disgust with what THQ has done to the game.

Features

45 licensed vehicles

32 different tracks

Password save

Link cable support for two players (multiple cartridge)

Only for Game Boy Advance

GT Advance is an extremely sweet, straightforward arcade racer, featuring more than 45 real-world vehicles from eight different car manufacturers. It's a race against seven other vehicles, and you'll only be able to advance through the ranks if you come through with a gold, silver, or bronze cup. Many of the vehicles are only available in Japan -- you may think this would be a con, but this actually adds to GT Advance's charm, as you'll race vehicles that are only publicly driven over in the Asian territories. Ever drive around in the Nissan Cube? You will in this game.

The design is very similar to arcade racers such as PlayStation's Ridge Racer -- the only way you're going to be able to successfully advance through the ranks is if you master the powersliding technique. As you approach the many turns on the tracks, it's important to learn the technique that will enable your vehicle to skid and slide on the pavement around the turn so as not to lose precious speed in the corners. Pulling this off is very rewarding and gives a wee thrill when performed correctly...and since the game has both pavement and dirt tracks, you'll have to control your vehicle differently during the slides.

The opponent A.I. is fairly balanced, as the cars will space themselves out to give you a little bit of a challenge. The race leader doesn't cheat...while he's obviously going to be the better driver, he never blows well beyond the competition. Most races are very close...and when you get to the hardest circuit, you'll see just how challenging the game can get. The only gameplay feature I don't really like is the game's insistence that you upgrade your vehicle when you earn a special part -- since there's really no reason not to upgrade your cars (your attributes never go down after upgrading), it's just a bit of a hassle to enable the earned items on every vehicle you use.

Graphically, GT Advance pushes a graphic technique similar to F-Zero and Krazy Racers where the road is painted on a flat plane that scales and rotates as you drive over it. The good: the 3D effect of the road flowing underneath the car is amazingly smooth. The bad: the track railing is also painted on the single graphic, and it's difficult to tell what can or cannot be driven over...you'll find yourself bashing into unseen walls simply because your car's wheels tried to drive over a part of the graphic the program thinks is a wall. But once you learn where each of the 32+ tracks go, it's a lot easier to keep your vehicle on the road.

Now, we get into the one problem that brings the rating down a notch.

The original title, Advance GTA, recorded after every race your position in the Championship, as well as all of the vehicles and special parts you've earned in the game. It was an extremely convenient feature, especially in a portable, as you could, after a race, turn off the system to take a break. And when you return to your game, all your attributes will restore right on power-up.

Not so with GT Advance. A very, very, very poor error in judgement was made, and the US gamers who want to play the top racing game on the Game Boy Advance now has to suffer with a horrible alternative. The battery save has been changed into a very inconvenient password that players have to retrieve in order to turn off the system and return to the game at a later point in time. The password system is 16 character slots that consist of 64 alphanumeric and symbolic characters. Mathematically, that calculates out to 79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,336 possible passwords that the game could end up using. A password can and will end up being some cryptic letter/number/symbol combination such as wCg4f-48f843n?-k or M$j6pncTcm+TfyN3. Just imagine the horror to actually have to whip out a notebook just to jot something like this down...and imagine the mistakes someone with poor penmanship (like myself) can make with this password. "Is that a + or a lowercase T?" I can't tell you how many GT Advance passwords I've miswritten because I mistook an asterisk for a dash. And it takes literally five minutes to input the string of text.

Look, THQ, this password system is extremely inconvenient. You may be saving a buck per cartridge on pulling out the battery save, but just imagine how many gamers you're pissing off because they have to spend five minutes at the beginning of the game, typing in this massive password just to get to the point they left off? To hassle the gamer like this kills their enjoyment out of a previously fantastic racing title. This is completely uncalled for, and I hope you learn from this mistake.

The Verdict

If the original Japanese version also contained the password system, the complaint wouldn't be as strong as it is -- but folks, the US version, hampered by this awful "save game" hack, is inferior to a Japanese version that's readily available at import houses. If you have the means, I highly recommend you go pick up the original Japanese game...it's completely in English. GT Advance would have gotten a 9.0 rating and an Editor's Choice award if it remained completely intact as the Japanese counterpart. Goes to sho just how one little decision can affect enjoyment of a game.